I'm looking for a poem.. not any in particular, but one about a certain topic. I'm looking for one that portrays a positive view on life (living each day to the fullest, helping others, going the extra mile, etc..) and has some deep thoughts that involves animals. Sorry if this is too broad of a topic, but Im not having any luck in the searches here and at other sites. Thanks!

This one just clicked up on 'Random Poem.' Would it do?

pam

Tampa Robins
by Sidney Lanier

The robin laughed in the orange-tree:
"Ho, windy North, a fig for thee:
While breasts are red and wings are bold
And green trees wave us globes of gold,
Time's scythe shall reap but bliss for me
-- Sunlight, song, and the orange-tree.

Burn, golden globes in leafy sky,
My orange-planets: crimson I
Will shine and shoot among the spheres
(Blithe meteor that no mortal fears)
And thrid the heavenly orange-tree
With orbits bright of minstrelsy.

If that I hate wild winter's spite --
The gibbet trees, the world in white,
The sky but gray wind over a grave --
Why should I ache, the season's slave?
I'll sing from the top of the orange-tree
Gramercy, winter's tyranny.' <br /> <br /> I'll south with the sun, and keep my clime; <br /> My wing is king of the summer-time; <br /> My breast to the sun his torch shall hold; <br /> And I'll call down through the green and gold <br /> Time, take thy scythe, reap bliss for me,
Bestir thee under the orange-tree.'"

i can't think of any animal poems, but here's another one about birds:


The Kookaburras


Fall the shadows on the gullies, fades the purple from the mountain;
And the day that's passing outwards down the stairways of the sky,
With its kindly deeds and sordid on its folded page recorded,
Waves a friendly hand across the range to bid the world "good-bye."
Comes a buoyant peal of laughter from the tall, white, slender timber,
Rugged mirth that floods the bushland with the joy of brotherhood,
With the rustic notes sonorous of a happy laughing chorus,
When the kookaburras bless the world because the world is good.


Oh, 'tis good and clean and wholesome when we take the sheep-track homewards,
And the kindly kitchen chimney flaps its homely bannerets;
All our twigs of effort, shooting golden promise for the fruiting,
Bring a night in peace enfolded that a useful day begets.
Hopeful dreams, their visions weaving, steel our hearts against to-morrow,
And we dare the challenge, strengthened by today's assaults withstood;
Beam the pregnant days before us; and another laughing chorus
Wraps the world in rippling revelry, because the world is good.


Loving eyes to watch our coming, loving arms to twine around us-
Tender tendrils, soft and silken, firmer far than iron stay-
All our little world upholding, gentle hearts and home enfolding,
And a cheery, friendly neighbour dropping in upon his way:
Mellow joy the soul refreshes with the scented breath of heaven,
With the whispered songs of other spheres, hereafter understood:
Angels keep their sure watch o'er us: and another laughing chorus
Flings a vesper blessing round the world, because the world is good.

John O'Brien 1878-1952


(for anyone who hasn't heard them - kookaburras are large cheeky birds that, instead of singing, have a very loud distinctive laugh; we hear them most often at daybreak, or dusk, or when there is rain on the way.)

r.

Shelley, TO A SKYLARK
[www.bartleby.com] />
And check out the discussion on this forum called "CATS." Maybe something there will do.

Charles Kingsley wrote a little verse in a letter to Thomas Hughes:

Tho' we earn our bread, Tom,
By the dirty pen,
What we can we will be,
Honest Englishmen.
Do the work that's nearest
Though it's dull at whiles,
Helping, when we meet them,
Lame dogs over stiles.

Thanks- I'd wondered where the 'lame dogs over stiles' phrase came from. I always thought it was some corruption of the 'Pig won't jump over the stile' story.

pam